For a sexy spring, try Sondheim’s summer

Friday

May 16, 2014 at 2:00 AM

There’s music in the air at Eventide Arts in Dennis. Stephen Sondheim’s complex score makes A Little Night Music not your average musical. With his penchant for structuring scores with odd musical keys, syncopation and lyrics, one has to pay attention to the singing or lose the train of thought.

John Watters

BOB TUCKER/FOCALPOINT STUDIO PHOTO

THEIR FAULT, THEY FEAR - Cynthia Harrington as Desiree and Michael Weber as Fredrik Egerman play star-crossed lovers in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at Eventide Arts in Dennis.

A Little Night Music at Eventide

There’s music in the air at Eventide Arts in Dennis. Stephen Sondheim’s complex score makes A Little Night Music not your average musical. With his penchant for structuring scores with odd musical keys, syncopation and lyrics, one has to pay attention to the singing or lose the train of thought.

Under the more than capable musical direction of Maggie Bossi and stage direction by Steve Reynolds the Eventide production is a feast of musical theater, with only a few of the items on the menu failing to satisfy.

Sondheim’s long score leaves no place to hide and if you have less than the utmost singing talent, your frailties are quickly exposed. The good news is that 95 percent of the cast is equipped with the musical prowess to carry it off. Unfortunately, at least on opening night, there were a few moments that would not have made maestro Sondheim proud.

This in itself should not keep you from seeing this marvelous production. When the singing is on, it’s magical, and that goes for the acting as well.

Judy Chesley’s costumes are eye-popping and Chrissie McCormick’s set design is gorgeous, although with the size of the cast there are times when the staging does feel a little cramped. An example would be the finale of the first act where cast members in the back are completely hidden to the audience.

Sondheim first brought this play to the stage in 1973, when he teamed up with Hugh Wheeler, who wrote the book adapted from an Ingmar Bergman film, Smiles of a Summer Night. The story told is about Swedish elite couples at the beginning of the twentieth century, their courtships, their dalliances and their whimsical lives played out in a summer weekend retreat at the estate of Madame Armfeldt.

Sondheim chose to use a Greek chorus effect to set up the play and scenes, The Liebeslieder Singers includes Jeff Clouts, Joan Kirchner, Jacqueline Coughlin, Bret Poulter and Dian Landau. Together they flourish with their musical talent.

As a well to do lawyer who has taken a very young wife, Michael Weber, as Henrik Egerman, is perfect in the role. Strong voiced with equally strong acting skills, he quietly commands the stage when he’s on it. Erica Morris is every part his equal as his young wife Anne.

Margery Cuyler as the aging matriarch Madame Armfeldt, whisked around by servants in a wheeled chair, comes across with an almost Maggie Smith air. She captures much of the comedic nuances of her role effortlessly.

As Madame’s daughter Desiree, Cynthia Harrington shows off her stage skills nicely. Her rendition of the signature song Send in the Clowns is a show-stopper. Thea Goldman as her daughter Fredrika is also captivating with innocent bearing as she yearns to learn more about the escapades of life going on around her.

Finally Steve Ross and Oriana Camish nearly steal the show with their portrayals of Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm and Countess Charlotte Malcolm. Ross seizes every opportunity to steal a laugh. Together their voices blend nicely and they they exude a fine chemistry.

A Little Night Music is a wonderful thing to take in on a spring evening, and Eventide Arts’ Gertrude Lawrence Stage is the ideal setting.

Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music is at Eventide Arts on the Gertrude Lawrence Stage at Dennis Union Church, Route 6A, Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Sundays at 2:30 p.m. through June 1. For tickets or information call the box office at 508-398-8588 or go to www.eventidearts.org